Food/Soup Kitchens/Pantries

Who are the folks who eat at Cosgrove's Kitchen?

The number of people who eat at the kitchen varies from day-to-day. There is less on the first day of a month, but toward the end of the month the number steadily increases. On any day, we find the "regulars" - mostly men with little or no income, who live alone - many of whom have no cooking facilities.read more ...

Who are the Homeless?

We see them sleeping on sidewalks and under cardboard boxes, holding up signs begging for money an living underneath freeway bridges and overpasses. How did they become homeless and what happens to them now?read more ...

It's almost ready!

Members of St. Joseph the Worker Conference in Los Angeles serve lunch for free to the homeless and other needy individuals who come to the church seeking assistance. Many of those who partake of the meals, which include a sandwich, a salad of some sort and a cold drink, say they are most grateful for the six-day-a-week program. Not only are they fed for free, but Vincentians and other volunteers who return frequently to ask if anyone would like more to eat or drink also treat them to tableside service.

Daily Lunch Program in Canoga Park, CA

St. Joseph the Worker Conference members in Canoga Park are serving free lunches to the homeless and needy who wish to partake in the meal program, that is offered six days each week, whenever the parish office is open, members said. read more ...

Souper Bowl

The Immaculate Conception Conference in the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, is a member of an inner city organization called KICCUP that expresses the solidarity of all the downtown area churches to work together for the good of everyone, especially the poor and disadvantaged. Super Bowl Sunday is just around the corner. Immaculate Conception and the other community churches have a special collection that is a unique way to remind people of our own blessings of having enough to eat and help the poor at the same time. After all the Masses on Super Bowl Sunday, young members stand at the doors holding a football helmet to collect donations for their local Soup Kitchen. For more information contact Martha at: [email protected]

Here Comes the Food Bus!

Down the street a group of children play. One of them looks up and sees a white bus with blue lettering on the side. She jumps up and down and shouts to friends and neighbors, "Here comes the food bus! Here comes the food bus!" read more ...

Dining Rooms - SVDP Council of Phoenix, AZ

With one of the largest kitchens in the Southwest, five charitable dining rooms, and a food bank that serves central and northern Arizona, St. Vincent de Paul is able to provide over six million meals to hungry families and individuals each year. St. Vincent de Paul operates five dining rooms in metropolitan Phoenix and provides hot meals daily to 17 additional nonprofit agencies. Dining rooms are strategically located throughout the Valley, from Mesa to El Mirage, so they are easily accessed by those people who need them most. All dining room locations offer on-site referrals for additional assistance such as employment-related services, transportation, utilities assistance and housing. Our families-only dining room also offers educational programs for children and parents.

Dining Room in Buffalo, NY

In March of 1982 some members of the Society opened their doors to feed three needy guests. By the end of that year, the Society had served more than 12,000 meals. Ten years later, the Dining Room of the St. Vincent de Paul Society was serving over 100,000 meals a year. The Dining Room is by far the largest committment to the needy. It is through organization, planning, and the dedication and support of its members and volunteers that the Society has been able to maintain this level of commitment. The Society has never had to turn any person away. As the need of the poor in Buffalo increases, the Society is faced with a growing cost to support the Dining Room. We look to the support of our members and benefactors to help meet this increasing need.

Jouni's Cafe & Society of St. Vincent de Paul St. Joseph Conference in Pomona

Upland restaurateur Jacob Jouni of Joune's Café and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul St. Joseph Conference, part of the Council of Los Angeles, joined forces to help serve more than 700 Thanksgiving Day meals at St. Joseph Church in Pomona at their fourth annual community Thanksgiving Day meal.read more ...

Facing the Challenge of Hunger in the Summer

Summertime means garden time for many of us fortunate Vincentians. As you are putting the finished touches on your gardens, why not take a suggestion from some of the members and volunteers in our area and reserve a row or two for your local food bank.read more ...

Council of Rockville Centre Assists with Letter Carriers Food Drive

Once again, Long Island demonstrated their generosity by contributing 1.3 million pounds of food to the 12th Annual Letter Carriers Food Drive. Vincentians joined the hundreds of other volunteers from all over Long Island to sort, box, and prepare the bins of food for delivery. The Society donated the use of four trucks to help deliver the food to pantries throughout Long Island. The food has been distributed to Island Harvest, Long Island Cares, food pantries of the SVDP Conferences, and a number of other non-profit agencies. It is estimated that the 1.3 million pounds of food will be approximately 289,000 people during the next year. The success of the Annual Letter Carriers' harvest of donated food shows that Long Island does care.

Empty Bowls are Full Extravaganza

The SVdP’s Council of Baton Rouge had a unique fundraiser called Empty Bowls, hosted by Julie Harrison, Beverly Wilson and all those involved with the Louisiana School for the Deaf and the LSU Lab School This event was focused on combating hunger in their community. Guests at the event received a handmade bowl in remembrance of world hunger. All monies collected were directed to the SVdP Dining Room and the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank. Chef John Folse donated his time and resources to making the delicious gumbo that was served. The event raised over $13,000, of which the Society’s Dining Room will receive half.

Reverse Collections?!!

After Communion, we pass collection baskets with written items needed for the SVdP pantry. Parishioners take one, two, or three items and bring them to church the following Sunday. This idea came from our deacon, who was the Grand Knight of the KCs. (Marinette WI Holy Family Conference, David Harper, President, 715-735-9549/[email protected])

Food Pantry Offers Customer Choice

At some 4,000-square-feet, St. Vincent de Paul's new food pantry in Madison WI is smaller than most grocery stores, but shops a lot like one. Retrofitting a former auto radiator shop for use as a temporary pantry allowed administrators to try out a "customer choice" style pantry and learn what features they'll need in their new building, said executive director Ralph Middlecamp.

Letting customers choose their food, just like more affluent families shopping in a commercial store, is more respectful of their dignity. It also makes for a more efficient use of limited food supplies, because families take what they'll eat and pantries can stock food accordingly.

Customers are assigned points, according to family size, that they then can "spend" on food at the pantry. St. Vincent's puts limits on how many points can be spent in certain food categories, like "meat" and "sweets," for supply and nutritional reasons.

Stamping Out Hunger

Last year, the drive brought in 3,500 pounds of food in Park Hills, MO,which was divided between the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at Immaculate Conception Church and the Elvins Food Pantry read more ...

Next Generation of Food Banking

A facility described as "the next generation of food banking" opened this week on Houston's north side as officials announced plans to begin distributing free groceries to 8,500 mostly low-income seniors. read more ...

Saying Thank-you

The Negaunee St. Vincent de Paul Society sends our sincere thanks to the Negaunee postal workers and the citizens of Negaunee for the very successful food drive held on May 13, 2006. Our pantry shelves are again well stocked, which enables us to continue to assist the needy in our area. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. -- Lorna Hiller, Vice President, St. Vincent de Paul, Negaunee MI (The Mining Journal, June 23, 2006)

Home Cooking, New Orleans-Style

Van Covington describes herself as a “dump and catch” cook. If you want one of her recipes, she’ll start to dump the ingredient into a bowl, and you’ll have to catch it to measure it. read more ...

SVdP Breakfast Club

St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix is hoping to find community-minded professionals to take a place in the serving line to dish out breakfasts to the homeless. read more ...

Meating the Challenge

A faulty freezer at the Saint Vincent de Paul Society offices in the West End caused thousands of dollars of meat to be lost this week read more ...

Tote-ly Cool!

Frank Cloos of St. Raymond’s Conference in Providence, Rhode Island reports that his Conference has created a custom tote bag for the patrons of their food pantry to use. The canvas tote was introduced last Thanksgiving to replace grocery bags, which were often heavy and awkward to carry. Patrons are encouraged to bring their totes back with them when they return to the pantry for more food.

Turkey Stuffing

St. Joseph Elementary School in Bryan, Texas created a large turkey in their hallway and encouraged students to stuff the turkey with canned goods and needed food items. The turkey was filled to overflowing, and the items contributed to the Austin Council's Thanksgiving Drive. Due to the overwhelming donations of food, 154 needy families were helped with an extra bag of food last year.

New-Concept Pantry

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is pleased to announce the opening of our new special project: The John L. Neighborhood Food Depot. This new food pantry has been established in Memory of John L. Marek and will provide the Houston community with a unique new concept in food pantry service. read more ...

Corporate Lunch Bunch

American Express is a member of St. Vincent de Paul's Corporate Lunch Bunch, which brings in employees to serve lunch one day each month. Volunteers have donated more than 2,500 hours over the last few years, serving meals and greeting guests at the nonprofit's five Phoenix-area dining rooms. (The Business Journal of Phoenix, August 14, 2007)

Librarians Produce "Fine Food"

The St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Joseph County, Indiana would like to thank everyone who brought a non-perishable food item to "Retrofest" at the LaSalle Branch library on August 25th. The food items were donated in exchange for paying library fines. Some 1,785 cans were donated, with $1,683 in fines waived. The library personnel did a wonderful job arranging this donation day and planning entertainment for library patrons. We were able to park our van in a highly visible place in the parking lot, which encouraged more people to donate. The food will go a long way toward helping low-income families this fall and winter, through the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry.

<align="right">-- Matthew J. Vigneault, Executive Director</align="right">
<align="right">Society of St. Vincent de Paul of St. Joseph County</align="right">

Youth Hockey Team Helps Pantry

A Rogue Valley, Oregon youth ice hockey team will skate for food, to help the Society of St. Vincent de Paul restock their shelves at the local food bank.

She was chosen the person students would most like to see in a turkey costume as part of a fundraiser for St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry dubbed Feathers for Food. In its inaugural year, $800 was collected read more ...

Pantry Volunteer Brochure

The Indianapolis Council has put together a comprehensive brochure outlining the opportunities for volunteers to help out at the pantry on shopping days and stocking days, and with home delivery and pantry maintenance and cleaning read more ...

Pantry Client Brochure

The Indianapolis Council created a brochure to advertise the hours and locations of its pantries, and to explain the rules, regulations, and eligibility requirements to prospective clients read more ...

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58 Progress Parkway
Maryland Heights, MO 63043

Phone: (314) 576-3993
Fax: (314) 576-6755

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The National Council of the United States Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. Donations to the National Council are deductible. The Council's tax identification number is 13-5562362.